Bamidbar 5778

Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)

GOOD MORNING! Saturday evening, May 19th, begins the two day holiday of Shavuot (or Shavuos in the Ashkenazic pronunciation). (Yizkor is on Monday, May 21st.) It is the anniversary and celebration of the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Jewish people 3,330 years ago. It is a time of rededication and commitment to learning Torah. (It'll be worthwhile to go to http://www.aish.com/holidays and click on Shavuos).

WHAT IS SHAVUOT AND HOW
IS IT CELEBRATED

The Torah calls Shavuot the "Festival of Weeks" (Numbers 28:26). The very word "Shavuot" is Hebrew for "weeks"; it refers to the seven weeks that one counts from the second day of Passover (when the Omer [barley] offering is brought) until the holiday of Shavuot. It is one of the three Regalim, holidays, (Pesach and Succot are the other two) where every man in the land of Israel was commanded to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival when the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, stood in Jerusalem.

Torah is the life blood of the Jewish people. Our enemies have always known that when we Jews stop learning Torah, our assimilation is inevitable. Without knowledge there is no commitment. One cannot love what he does not know. A person cannot do or understand what he has never learned.

A Jew is commanded to learn Torah day and night and to teach it to his children. If a Jew wants his family to be Jewish and his children to marry other Jews, then he must integrate a Torah study program into his life and implement the teachings into his home and his being. One can tell his children anything, but only if they see their parents learning and doing mitzvot, will they inherit the love for being Jewish. Remember: a parent only owes his child three things -- example, example, example.

How can we utilize this opportunity to grow and strengthen our self-identity as Jews? Just as a baby crawls, then toddles and then walks, likewise with the mitzvot (commandments). A person should undertake one more mitzvah, do it well and then build on it. For some mitzvot that you might enjoy taking on...

A FEW SUGGESTIONS

1. Read the Torah! The Almighty gave it to you as a gift. It is the instruction book for living -- how to be happy, choose the right spouse, make your marriage work, raise your children with values, get more joy out of life. I highly recommend the Artscroll Stone Chumash (Five Books of Moses).

2. Attend a Torah class -- or if you wish to listen to recorded classes, try TorahAnytime.com or AishAudio.com to download over 2,000 classes for your mp3 player! Buy a copy of Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) and read one page a day. It contains concentrated wisdom about life!

3. Make sure you have a Kosher mezuzah scroll on at least your front door. (A Jewish home should have mezuzot on all doorposts except for the bathrooms). Learn the deep, inner-meaning of mezuzah and reflect on it when you look at the mezuzah. To Be a Jew by Rabbi Hayim Donin nicely explains a lot of things.

4. Pick one non-kosher food item that you won't eat -- just because you're Jewish.

5. Say the Shema and its three following paragraphs at least once a day. Learn what the words mean and the ideas included. It will change your outlook and attitudes. Artscroll publishes a book on The Shema -- or look at the commentary in the Artscroll Siddur. Lisa Aiken's book, Hidden Beauty of the Shema, is spectacular!

6. Do something to make Shabbat special -- light two candles with the blessing before sundown, have a Shabbat Friday night family dinner and make Kiddush and HaMotzei (the prayer before eating the Challahs -- the special loaves of bread). You might want to buy Friday Night and Beyond by Lori Palatnik which is a hands-on guide for the novice wanting to enjoy the pleasures of Shabbat.

The Talmud says, "All beginnings are difficult." If you need help or have questions, please feel free to call me at 815-301-1928 or e-mail to: kp@aish.com.

On Shavuot there is a custom to stay up all night learning Torah. Virtually every synagogue and yeshiva have scheduled learning throughout the night ending with the praying of Shacharit, the morning service. The reason: the morning the Jewish people were to receive the Torah on Mt. Sinai, they overslept. We now can rectify the tendency to give in to our desires by demonstrating our resolve through learning the whole night. It is a meaningful experience to share with your children. It would be wonderful if you could find a synagogue, JCC or yeshiva with a program that night; at very minimum, how about reading the story of the giving of the Torah to your family (Exodus 19:10 -20:23). For more on Shavuos, go to Aish.com and AishAudio.com!

Bamidbar, Numbers 1:1 - 4:20

In the second year of travel in the desert, Moshe and Aharon were commanded by the Almighty to count all male Israelites between 20 and 60. There were 603,550 available for military service. The tribe of Levi was exempt because of their special duties as religious leaders. (It is probably from here that countries give divinity deferments to clergy and divinity students.)

The twelve tribes were directed regarding the formation (three tribes were on each side of the Portable Sanctuary) in which they were to camp and travel.

The 22,300 Levites were commanded in the Sanctuary service. The family of Gershon was to transport the coverings of the Sanctuary. The family of Kehos carried the Ark, Table, Menorah and Altars. The family of Merari transported the boards, pillars, bolts and sockets.

The first portion of Bamidbar is generally read before the Shavuos festival, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Inasmuch as there are no coincidences, we may assume that this portion is a prerequisite for receiving the Torah.

In relating the episode at Mt. Sinai, the Torah states:

"Israelites camped near the mountain" (Exodus 19:2).

However, the Torah uses the singular vayichan, "he camped" rather than vayachanu, "they camped." Rashi explains that the singular indicated that all the Israelites were united as one person. It is this unity that made them worthy of receiving the Torah.

There is nothing so dear to God as unity among His children. So much so, that the Talmud states that when Jews are united, God forgives even their greatest sins (Kallah 8).

The message of Bamidbar is the message of unity: "The Children of Israel shall encamp, each person by his banner" (Numbers 2:2). Each person knew his place and was not envious of others. This is why the Torah reading of Bamidbar precedes Shavuous. Unity is the prerequisite for acceptance of the Torah.

Since 1992, Rabbi Packouz is the author of Shabbat Shalom Weekly, with insights into life, personal growth and Torah. He transitioned from a Reform Judaism background to a fully Torah-observant life at age 22, via Aish HaTorah, where he was one of the founding five students. He is co-founder of Aish HaTorah’s first branch, in St. Louis, Missouri and the originator of the Aish Jewish Computer Dating Service -- perhaps the first Jewish computer dating services. He is also the creator of TheWall.org -- Aish’s webcam on the Western Wall. The Shabbat Shalom Weekly started with 50 faxes and 50 emails. Today, it has over 100,000 subscribers and is available in English, Hebrew, Spanish and Portuguese. To subscribe, go to www.shabbatshalom.org and enter your email address. Click for Rabbi Packouz's complete bio.